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Oliver Carroll

Oliver Carroll was The Independent's Moscow Correspondent from 2017 to 2022

<p>Polish soldiers patrol the Poland/Belarus border</p>
Europe

Russia sends bombers to patrol Belarus airspace over migrant crisis

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin</p>
Europe

Kremlin labels frontline LGBT+ rights group as a ‘foreign agent’

<p>Polish security personnel watching migrants gathered at the Belarusian-Polish border </p>
Europe

Poland warns of ‘armed’ escalation as Belarus migrant crisis deepens

<p>Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere rest on the ground as they gather at the Poland border near Grodno, Belarus</p>
Europe

Poland blames Belarus for migrant crisis as thousands try to enter EU

<p>The Russian embassy in Berlin</p>
Europe

Russian ‘spy’ found dead after falling from window in Berlin embassy

<p>Servicemen line up during an unveiling of the monument in memory of assassinated battalion commander of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Arseny Pavlov, who goes by the nom de guerre “Motorola”, in Donetsk.</p>
World

Is Ukraine’s conflict heading into a new, bloody phase?

<p>Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov</p>
Europe

Chechnya arrests three ‘witches’ in Halloween crackdown

<p>Dutch judge Hendrik Steenhuis views the reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the Gilze-Rijen military airbase (AFP/Getty)</p>
World

‘Suspicious’: Lawyers for MH17 victims being ‘intimidated’ by Moscow

<p>Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky laying down a lamp at the Minora memorial in Kiev, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre</p>
Europe

Russian-funded ‘Holocaust Disneyland’ stirs suspicions in Ukraine

<p>An image from the Vyatsky Kvass anti-racism ad campaign </p>
The Longer Read

How ‘Russia’s Coca-Cola’ took on a racist cult and won

<p>Workers from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, wearing protective gear, disinfect Moscow’s Belorussky railway station earlier this week</p>
Europe

Moscow to go back into lockdown to combat surging Covid cases

<p>Putin isn’t coming to Glasgow, but has also recently pulled out of other summits </p>
Europe

Putin missing Cop26 is more than just a snub to Boris Johnson

<p>A car with diplomatic license plates enters the grounds of a building that houses the NATO information office in Moscow. Russia said it was suspending its mission to NATO and closing the alliance's offices</p>
Europe

Russia shuts Nato office in tit for tat move following ‘spy’ expulsion

Europe

Russia shuts Nato office in tit for tat move following ‘spy’ expulsion

<p>A car with diplomatic license plates enters the grounds of a building that houses the NATO information office in Moscow. Russia said it was suspending its mission to NATO and closing the alliance's offices</p>
<p>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a court hearing in Moscow earlier this year </p>
Europe

Anti-Putin campaigner Navalny designated a ‘terrorist’

<p>People attend a rally next to the Belarusian Embassy to Ukraine to commemorate Vitaly Shishov, a Belarusian activist living in exile who was found hanged in a park near his home in August</p>
Europe

‘If you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean you aren’t being followed’

<p>Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta</p>
Europe

Who is Dmitry Muratov, winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize?

<p>Russian president Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony marking the formal launch of the TurkStream pipeline, which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey</p>
Europe

Ukrainian gas chief accuses Moscow of blackmail over energy supplies

<p>Russian president Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony marking the formal launch of the TurkStream pipeline, which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey</p>
Europe

Ukrainian gas chief accuses Moscow of blackmail over energy supplies

<p>Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, says he has returned to the country</p>
Europe

Ex-president Saakashvili says he is back in Georgia

<p>The current battle with YouTube is not the first time authorities have picked a fight with big tech</p>
Europe

Kremlin threatens to ban YouTube after RT channels are blocked

<p>Russian Security Council deputy chief Medvedev accused Twitter, among others, of meddling </p>
Europe

Russia may open probe into ‘possible election meddling’, says Medvedev

<p>Protesters complained about the results of the Russian parliamentary elections </p>
Editor’s letters

Watching election result protests in Russia reminds me of a bygone era

<p>A Russian Communist party supporter at the protest against election fraud in Moscow on Saturday</p>
Europe

Communists stage Moscow protest against election vote-rigging

<p>A demonstration on Sunday after the preliminary election results — but will there be a turnout for Saturday’s protest?</p>
Europe

Defeated candidates pledge protest at disputed Russia election results

<p>Zelensky aide targeted in apparent assassination attempt</p>
Europe

Top aide to Ukrainian president survives assassination attempt

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with head of the Central Election Commission</p>
Europe

Analysis: UK’s provocative move on Skripal could prove to be risky

<p>A demonstration on Sunday after the preliminary election results — but will there be a turnout for Saturday’s protest?</p>
Europe

Defeated candidates pledge protest at disputed Russia election results

<p>Zelensky aide targeted in apparent assassination attempt</p>
Europe

Top aide to Ukrainian president survives assassination attempt

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with head of the Central Election Commission</p>
Europe

Analysis: UK’s provocative move on Skripal could prove to be risky

<p>A woman takes a picture of a screen displaying preliminary voting results</p>
Europe

Putin’s party claims landslide victory as communists contest vote

Europe

Putin’s party claims landslide victory as communists contest vote

<p>A woman takes a picture of a screen displaying preliminary voting results</p>
<p>Footage shows desperate students jumping from first-floor windows of the building</p>
Europe

Gunman opens fire at Siberia university, killing at least six

<p>A sailor votes in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Sunday as part of Russian parliamentary elections </p>
Europe

Exit polls suggest majority for pro-Putin party in Russia election

<p>A voter holds ballots during the Russian parliamentary election at polling station 342 at the Republican Clinical Hospital in Kazan on Sunday </p>
Europe

How a visit to a Russian polling station led to my data being leaked

<p>Few doubt the Kremlin will win a landslide at the Russian legislative election, but there may be some surprises </p>
Europe

Google and Apple remove Navalny app as Russia goes to the polls

<p>Few doubt the Kremlin will win a landslide at the Russian legislative election, but there may be some surprises </p>
Europe

Google and Apple remove Navalny app as Russia goes to the polls

<p>Russian Communist Party supporters walk towards the mausoleum of Lenin in January</p>
Europe

Russian elections: the Communist party’s ‘red Navalny’ gains ground

<p>Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister</p>
Europe

Kyiv’s foreign minister says Ukraine needs to militarise to survive

<p>Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky</p>
Europe

Russia may launch all-out war with Ukraine, says President Zelensky

<p>A man holds and anti-Russian placard on Kyiv’s Independence Square in 2019 during a memorial for the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean population by the Soviet Union</p>
Europe

Russia arrests five Crimean Tatar activists amid terror plot claims

<p>a worker paints over graffiti of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in Saint Petersburg. The inscription reads: "The hero of the new times". </p>
Europe

Isolated and demoralised, Team Navalny has a last roll of the dice

<p>Belarus' opposition activists Maria Kolesnikova stands in cage during a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus</p>
Europe

Belarus opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova gets 11 year jail sentence

Europe

Belarusian prosecutors order 12-year sentence for opposition leader

<p>Tikhon Dzyadko has headed TV Rain since 2019 </p>
Europe

Russian independent TV boss rails against Kremlin media crackdown

<p>Goodbye to all that: German chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian president Vladimir Putin leave a joint news conference following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow</p>
Europe

Angela Merkel marks end of 16-year duel with Vladimir Putin

<p> ‘F@ck this job,’ an upcoming documentary on TV Rain</p>
Europe

Media outlets feel force of Kremlin crackdown

<p>President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev returning to Moscow, 1991</p>
Europe

Fall of the Soviet Union: Three days that shook Russia and the world

Europe

Fall of the Soviet Union: Three days that shook Russia and the world

<p>President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev returning to Moscow, 1991</p>
<p>Officials arrange a Taliban flag, before a press conference by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid</p>
Europe

Russia faces up to its Afghan double bind

<p>BBC’s Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford has been told to go home </p>
Europe

Moscow to expel BBC correspondent in retaliatory act

<p>British Embassy in Berlin, Germany</p>
Europe

David Smith: Kremlin outwits the west with use of traditional spycraft

<p>Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya takes part in a demonstration called "We won't forget, We won't forgive!" in Vilnius</p>
Europe

Tikhanovskaya says there is ‘no turning back’ in Lukashenko fight

<p>Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya takes part in a demonstration called "We won't forget, We won't forgive!" in Vilnius</p>
Europe

Tikhanovskaya says there is ‘no turning back’ in Lukashenko fight

<p>Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko speaks during an annual press conference in Minsk, Belarus</p>
Europe

Alexander Lukashenko prepares the way for succession

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin</p>
Editor’s letters

Journalism is becoming increasingly difficult in Russia

<p>A specialist of the local forest protection service works to extinguish a forest fire near the village of Magaras in the region of Yakutia</p>
News

Russian wildfire smoke reaches North Pole for first time

<p>Only one winner? Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party is expected to triumph despite a slump in recent polls</p>
Europe

Kremlin prepares for most controlled elections in modern era

World

Russia constructing new Doomsday plane, say reports

Europe

Anti-Putin candidate says ‘deliberately imprisoned in hospital’

<p>The bathhouse is much more than a place of steam – it’s a (mostly) men’s club</p>
Independent Premium

Russian sauna championships turn up the heat

<p>Volunteers prepare to douse a forest fire in the republic of Sakha also known as Yakutia, Russia Far East</p>
News

Russia battles ‘catastrophic’ wildfires amid dwindling fire defence

<p>FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov</p>
Europe

Kremlin moves to firewall swathes of sensitive data in clampdown

<p>A man holds Pavel Sheremet’s portrait at his memorial in Kiev on Tuesday, on the site where the journalist’s car exploded five years ago</p>
Europe

Five years after journalist’s death, Ukraine has no clear answers

<p>Russian president Vladimir Putin</p>
World

How the Kremlin is turning on YouTube to quell independent journalism

World

How the Kremlin is turning on YouTube to quell independent journalism

Head shot of Oliver Carroll
Oliver Carroll
<p>Russian president Vladimir Putin</p>
<p>‘The outcome of this election, after all, appears long decided’</p>
Editors' letters

What do elections look like in a country with no opposition?

<p>Lithuanian soldiers install razor wire on border with Belarus in Druskininkai</p>
Europe

Lithuania builds border wall as Belarus accused over migrant crisis

<p>The Antonov An-26 with the same board number #RA-26085 as the missed plane is parked between two other Antonov An-26 planes at Airport Elizovo outside Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia</p>
Europe

Russia plane crash kills all 28 on board

<p>Belgazprombank ex-CEO Babariko sentenced to 14 years in colony</p>
Europe

Presidential challenger to Alexander Lukashenko gets 14 year sentence

<p>Belgazprombank ex-CEO Babariko sentenced to 14 years in colony</p>
Europe

Presidential challenger to Alexander Lukashenko gets 14 year sentence

<p>Workers paint over graffiti of Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg in April. The words on the wall reading "Hero of our time"</p>
World

Art as politics: street artists take on the state in St Petersburg

<p>Sofia Sapega, left, and Roman Protasevich who have been moved from jail to house arrest </p>
Europe

Lukashenko releases Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega to house arrest

<p>US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin pictured during the US-Russia summit in Geneva</p>
Editor’s letters

US-Russian tensions have not yet been put to rest

<p>HMS Defender, target of Russian warning shots</p>
Europe

Royal Navy destroyer in Crimea confrontation with Russian warships

World

Russia promises to ‘hit target’ if UK warship operation repeated

<p>Russian people stand in line waiting to receive an injection of Russia’s Sputnik V</p>
Europe

Moscow reports record Covid-19 cases amid stuttering vaccine programme

<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands during their meeting at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva on June 16</p>
World

Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin talks begin at Geneva Summit

<p>Russia’s president Vladimir Putin (left) and US president Joe Biden reaching out to shake hands before their meeting at Villa La Grange, Geneva</p>
World

Biden and Putin claim summit gains but talks end early

<p>Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a press conference after meeting with US President in Geneva </p>
World

Putin says ‘no hostility but no breakthrough’ in talks with Biden

<p>People walk under Russian and American flags on a bridge in Geneva prior to the meeting between Joe Biden and Russian Vladimir Putin</p>
Europe

Putin-Biden: Things to look out for at the Summit

<p>Khalimat Taramova is the daughter a close associate of Chechnya’s tyrannical leader Ramzan Kadyrov</p>
Europe

Fears for LGBT woman after her abduction by police in raid on refuge

<p>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny</p>
Europe

Russia bans Putin critic Navalny’s organisations as ‘extremist’

<p>Russian police arrest a LGBT+ campaigner in May 2019</p>
Europe

Russia opens investigation into music awards over ‘gay propaganda’

<p>Dmitry Bykov</p>
World

Another Putin critic reportedly target of poisoning

<p>A brighter future for the US-Russia relationship? Presidents Biden and Putin will meet next week in Geneva</p>
World

Operation Normalise: Geneva gets ready to host Biden and Putin

<p>A man carries boxes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seen on a screen in the background at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum </p>
Europe

Putin refuses to say if he’d force passenger plane to land

<p>Dmitry Bykov</p>
World

Another Putin critic reportedly target of poisoning

<p>A brighter future for the US-Russia relationship? Presidents Biden and Putin will meet next week in Geneva</p>
World

Operation Normalise: Geneva gets ready to host Biden and Putin

<p>A man carries boxes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seen on a screen in the background at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum </p>
Europe

Putin refuses to say if he’d force passenger plane to land

<p>Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich, detained last month after his flight was forced to land in Minsk, pictured during an interview with state television</p>
Europe

Roman Protasevich confession lifts lid on Lukashenko’s use of torture

<p>A stand at the forum</p>
World

Kremlin puts on investment show during crackdown

<p>A poster calling for the release of Roman Protasevich</p>
World

Lukashenko brandishes prospect of death sentence for Roman Protasevich

<p>Belarusian prisoner Stepan Latypov lies on a bench after an attempt to cut his throat inside the cage dock in a court in Minsk</p>
Europe

Belarusian opposition activist slits throat in court

<p>Plenty to talk about: Russian president Vladimir Putin meets with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi</p>
Europe

Putin hosts ‘toxic’ Lukashenko for talks in Sochi

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks to parliamentarians on Wednesday
Europe

A ‘North Korea on Europe’s doorstep’

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko
Europe

Lukashenko claims Ryanair plane bomb warning came ‘from Switzerland’

The Ryanair plane lands in Vilnius
Europe

Pilot ‘tricked’ into landing plane in Belarus over ‘bomb’ fears

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